A New Way of Life
Friends
First and foremost I’m grateful to be writing this in good health while I watch my healthy children play and flip through Netflix. That is a priceless honor to me as I read about so many others suffering. I truly pray you’re reading this in the same state and that your families are well and thriving as we all adjust to the way life has quickly changed.
As you, I have had a plethora of emotions during this time, and mostly, I am carrying a reverent yet eerie sense of calm. The burden in our world is on the shoulders of all of us and it’s heavy. The calm for me has come from seeing our community pulling together, lifting each other, showing just how caring, kind, and decent we can truly be. Times like this will bring out the worst and the best in people; I’ve seen the best and it is incredibly inspiring. Set aside the hoarding of goods and the panic based decisions that have been made by some, and truly look around to see what is happening. Our fast paced world is slowing down and getting back to what matters while speeding up in how we get there. We’re getting back to basics – lending our services to strangers, sewing masks for our front line providers in health care, feeding our community openly and without question, opening stores early for the elderly and shopping on their behalf in some cases. We are showing love to businesses affected by this virus – buying gift cards in advance and shopping locally for goods, rallying for businesses to succeed and make it through this trying time, and showing support for furloughed workers. We are coming together through adversity. I pray that this is a new way of life for us and that after this time of uncertainty and hardship has passed, the sense of ownership, love, and genuine support in our community and pockets of communities elsewhere does not cease.
The five second rule for food dropped on the ground may now be forever gone; may the communal support and outreach not. I pray we never forget and that our world, our homes, and our communities, operate in this new way. Slower, intentional, and with love for our neighbor.
We stand with our community; we are in this together and will get through this together.
Blessings
Jennifer Breaux